LETTERS - Carl Benjamin is the ugly new face of alt-right Ukip

Ukip leader Gerard Batten speaking at a 'Brexit betrayal' rally in March. He has encouraged far right figures to get involved with Ukip (Pic: Guy Smallman)

Ukip has come out of its dusty corner for the European Parliament elections, with new ideas and representatives that even its former leader Nigel Farage condemns.

One of these is YouTuber Carl Benjamin—aka Sargon of Akkad—one of Ukip’s candidates in the South West for the European elections.

Benjamin disgustingly tweeted to Labour MP Jess Phillips, claiming that he “wouldn’t even rape her”. Not only did he refuse to apologise, in April this year he added in a YouTube video, “with enough pressure, I might cave”.

Benjamin explains his unapologetic position on the tweet due to the fact that he said he “wouldn’t”. This claim of innocence falls through when you listen to the “political ideas” that Benjamin explores on his YouTube channel.

Sargon of Akkad, with almost one million subscribers, is a troll channel.

Most of its success comes from anti-feminist ideas alongside “scepticisms of modern society”.

The name Sargon of Akkad supposedly comes from a “love of history and the lessons it teaches us”.

That’s contradicted by claims such as that sexual and violent assaults against women are on the rise because modern feminism suppresses men.

Or that assault is due to single mothers not being able to raise children with awareness of consent. Or that women have always had a dominant role in society, but their transition into politics is what is destroying society itself.

Benjamin continuously sympathises with abusers, rapists and paedophiles, while consistently blaming victims for any assault they have experienced.

He is always proclaiming his right to free speech, which he is granted through his YouTube channel.

That channel is used to slander women and minorities.

That’s the true intent of right wingers fighting for “free speech”.

Abigail Head, Bristol

Capitalism hits the bees

One irony of being a beekeeper is that it’s easier to keep bees in a town than in most of the countryside.

This is because much of the countryside is a toxic green desert.

Capitalist monoculture means ripping up hedgerows and spraying fields with herbicides, fungicides and pesticides which damage bees and the wider ecosystem.

If there are flowering plants, they’re all the same and they all flower at the same time.

It’s like a human eating unlimited Big Macs for one month and nothing for the rest of the year. It’s not as if most farmers benefit from this. It’s the banks, agro-chemical companies and supermarket chains that make huge profits from a collapsing ecosystem.

Adam Rose, urban beekeeper, Manchester

No title - but entitled to a life of privilege

it was reported last week that mothers are struggling to buy cots and prams for their babies because of the cuts in Universal Credit.

In the same week, a baby was born into a family with a much different relationship with state benefits.